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WELL-DRESSED WOMEN GET BETTER SERVICE AT CLOTHING STORES COLUMBUS , Ohio  If women want the best possible service at a clothing store, they had better be looking fashionable and well-groomed before they hit the mall.

A new study found that well-dressed and groomed women received the friendliest and, in some cases, fastest service from salesclerks.

Researchers secretly observed interactions between customers and salesclerks at three large-sized women's clothing stores, timing how long clerks took to greet customers, and rating the clerks' friendliness.

Customers whose clothes were rated as more fashionable and attractive, and who showed better grooming and make-up skills, received better service than those whose appearance was not rated as highly.

How well-dressed you are is one indicator of your status, and how much money you have to spend, said Sharron Lennon, co-author of the study and professor of consumer sciences at Ohio State University.

Salesclerks believe that a well-dressed person is more likely to buy, and that affects the treatment she receives.

Lennon conducted the study with Minjeong Kim, an assistant professor at Oregon State University, who did the work while a graduate student at Ohio State.

Their results were published in a recent issue of Clothing and Textiles Research Journal.

Other studies that looked at how customer dress affected service have had conflicting results, Kim said. One reason may be that most of those studies didn't examine real customers, but instead involved confederates of the researchers who were dressed in specific outfits to see how they affected service.

We studied real customers, which is much more realistic, Kim said.

For this study, two researchers observed 90 women who entered three mall-based clothing stores (30 customers at each store). The researchers watched these 90 women's interactions with 13 different salespersons.

They chose large-sized clothing stores partly to ensure that the body size of the customers was not a factor in how they were treated, Lennon said. But also, the large sized apparel business is one of the faster-growing segments in the fashion industry, making it a good focus of study.

As customers entered the stores, the researchers rated 10 components of their dress and overall presentation on a scale from poor to good. The components were attractiveness of clothing, fashionability, formality, femininity, overall grooming, hair grooming, make-up, clothing fabric quality, accessory quality and purse quality.

Friendliness of clerks was rated from highly friendly to highly unfriendly. To rate friendliness, the researchers examined whether and how much the salespeople smiled at the shoppers, how close they approached, and whether they continued to do other work, like folding clothes, or gave their full attention to the customers, Kim said.

The body language of the salespeople is very important in showing friendliness, Kim said.

In addition, the researchers used a stopwatch to time how long it took clerks to greet customers.

The results showed nine of the 10 appearance components of customers had an impact on the friendliness of clerks. The only item that was not related to friendliness was the femininity of clothing.

However, only four items were related to how promptly shoppers were greeted by clerks  hair grooming, fabric quality, accessory quality, and purse quality.

Kim said subtle clues such as accessories affected how quickly the clerks approached customers, while the overall appearance affected friendliness.

These results suggest appearance is not as important in how quickly customers are greeted as it is in how friendly they are treated, Lennon said.

The difference is probably in training, she said.

Specialty clothing stores pride themselves on their customer service, and on greeting customers very quickly. Clerks know to come up to customers within seconds of them entering to see if they can help, according to Lennon.

But all of us learn to make assumptions about strangers quickly, and we don't have much to go on besides how they look. These assumptions guide our actions. In this case, salespeople may not be as friendly to people who they view as unlikely to buy.

Lennon said explicit training about how to convey friendliness will probably be successful, just as training seems to have made clerks respond quickly to greet shoppers.

I think most salespeople would make an effort to be friendlier if they were trained, she said.

Member

I agree. I've noticed that I get better service if I'm dressed in nice slacks, and classic top, than if I'm in jeans and a t-shirt with no make-up. I don't think it's right, a sales clerk should be impartial, but in reality it does happen that way. I don't take it personally.

I Bleed Georgia Red

Admin

i agree. i know it happens in my workplace, and i'm not even in clothing retail, but rather consumer electronics and appliances. we as salespeople get the brushoff - an answer of "just looking" or complete ignoring - 75% of the time, and after a while you learn what the people who are most likely to buy look and act like. whether it's right or not, it's simply pragmatic to help those that look like they are going to want your help first. in a fashionable clothing store, someone who walks in wearing seriously unfashionable clothes is going to be seen as an unlikely buyer and not helped before other more likely buyers are helped, particularly if the store is shortstaffed or busy. since i work in appliances, i rarely stop what i'm doing to walk up and start a conversation with anyone that appears to be under 25 and looking at a $2000 refrigerator. i greet and offer assistance to everyone i see, but my actions are definately different. i'm sure it'll happen one day that a 22-year-old will waltz in and buy a full kitchenaid kitchen, but until then, i'm not going to waste my time.

just thought i'd speak up in defense of all the SAs out there - most of us want to help everyone that wants help, but we're ignored and brushed off so much that it's hard to jump in to each interaction with equal enthusiasm. so, if you want help, LOOK like you want help, particularly if the store is large or non-luxury.

Francophile

It's totally true - from my own experience, when I'm dressed to kill, the sales people are all over me - if not, I'm left to wander. I will say that the sales professionals at Nordstrom's are the best trained and most helpful of any other store - I would rather shop there over Macy's,Bloomies or Saks any day and as far as Neiman Marcus is concerned, you better look like you stepped off the cover of Vogue!!!!!!!! or you will be stalked or ignored.

will work for shoes

I think that the subtle things make a large difference more than the whole package though. Jewelry, handbag, shoes, make-up and hair in my opinion are more of a factor than the clothes, per se. Reason for this; depending on the training you recieve as a SA you may have learned that women who are there to clothes shop will not come dressed in business attire if they truly wish to try it on.

However, we have put status and high-end accessories together. Therefore, high-end accessories tell a SA that you have money (accessories could all be fake, but...that is not the point). I would bet that you could put two women in a store one with all fake jewels, fake purse, etc, and another women with no jewels and a no-brand purse and the fakey would get better service, based on her appearance of wealth.

Member

I agree to an extent - I feel that "age" also has a lot to do with it. I'm 26, but look a bit younger, and I've had several occassions where sales people intentionally bypassed me to help someone obviously older (most notoriously at Nordstrom's locally). I dressed very classically and cleanly, and I find that I am often overlooked. I simply walk out, and spend my money elsewhere when it happens.

nyan nyan percent

Agree. I can't remember which teenager magazine did an article on this, but one of the staffers tested this out. She found that in name brand, higher end boutiques, it didn't matter what the clothing was since they generally have good service. But at some of the smaller yet still selling high end items stores, she received some pretty crummy service.

I think it's pretty ridiculous for a store to place expectations on customers, if people have money and as long as they're not like.. spilling a drink all over the floor, it shouldn't matter if they're dressed like hippies or goths or yuppies, service should really be uniform. But I guess that's part of the appeal of luxury items too, status.. so it kind of caters to those that appear to be of the upper strata.

I Bleed Georgia Red

Admin

Agree. I can't remember which teenager magazine did an article on this, but one of the staffers tested this out. She found that in name brand, higher end boutiques, it didn't matter what the clothing was since they generally have good service. But at some of the smaller yet still selling high end items stores, she received some pretty crummy service.

I think it's pretty ridiculous for a store to place expectations on customers, if people have money and as long as they're not like.. spilling a drink all over the floor, it shouldn't matter if they're dressed like hippies or goths or yuppies, service should really be uniform. But I guess that's part of the appeal of luxury items too, status.. so it kind of caters to those that appear to be of the upper strata.

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i don't think we necessarily place expectations on them, and we're certainly happy to help when it's brought to our attention that they actually NEED the help, but i think it's just pragmatic, in a busy store, to help the people that most closely fit your ideal customer (and every store's marketing department has one). we get paid, like, zilch and never have enough people to staff the department because of corporate trying to save money (and this is true in almost all stores, luxury or not), so we're just doing the best we can. we all judge people and act accordingly, SAs or not, and we're human too

nyan nyan percent

i don't think we necessarily place expectations on them, and we're certainly happy to help when it's brought to our attention that they actually NEED the help, but i think it's just pragmatic, in a busy store, to help the people that most closely fit your ideal customer (and every store's marketing department has one). we get paid, like, zilch and never have enough people to staff the department because of corporate trying to save money (and this is true in almost all stores, luxury or not), so we're just doing the best we can. we all judge people and act accordingly, SAs or not, and we're human too

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I'm sorry Amanda, if I've offended you in any way ! I've been a SA too and it's rough sometimes.. especially the poor pay.

I probably should have put my statement in a context, what I would imagine would apply best would be stepping into certain boutiques, such as Gucci or into Neiman Marcus where service on the whole may not really be so great unless you're well dressed. It would be difficult certainly to attend to all customers if a store is busy, but in places when there aren't a lot of other shoppers, and you still get the ignored treatment, or the stare you down until you leave treatment, it's somewhat disappointing.

kry5tal...get it?!:]

It's totally true - from my own experience, when I'm dressed to kill, the sales people are all over me - if not, I'm left to wander. I will say that the sales professionals at Nordstrom's are the best trained and most helpful of any other store - I would rather shop there over Macy's,Bloomies or Saks any day and as far as Neiman Marcus is concerned, you better look like you stepped off the cover of Vogue!!!!!!!! or you will be stalked or ignored.

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I just started training at Nordstrom's and from the very first day they emphasized the importance of customer service.

I think the article is true. Although that shouldn't be the case, people will always make assumptions on your outer appearance.

Member

H is for HOCKEY

I agree. I worked in retail for a few years and I think it's sad but true. Some ladies I worked with at my last store were AWFUL! They wouldn't even get up to great a person if that person wasn't dressed a certain way. It made me so angry. I would NEVER judge a book by it's cover!!! I worked for Mercedes-Benz for a year and let me tell you, one time I had a client come in dressed so-so. NOBODY aproached him in the showroom but me. Anyways, the guy ended up buying SL600 from me and paid CASH! Moral of the story: people with money don't always throw it in your face.

GREEBO...we miss you

Service does depend on appearance. I can wear jeans and a t-shirt, but if I am carrying a nice bag or scarf or wearing my wedding ring the sales staff comes running to help me. Years ago I went to the grocery store with an acquaintance and he was dressed in cheap black jeans and a Kiss shirt (goth, sort of?) and had long hair and these terrible glasses, and even in the grocery store there was a HUGE difference. The cashier watched us like we might steal something at any moment. I realized what a snob I am in that moment, and it has never happened again.

nyan nyan percent

I agree. I worked in retail for a few years and I think it's sad but true. Some ladies I worked with at my last store were AWFUL! They wouldn't even get up to great a person if that person wasn't dressed a certain way. It made me so angry. I would NEVER judge a book by it's cover!!! I worked for Mercedes-Benz for a year and let me tell you, one time I had a client come in dressed so-so. NOBODY aproached him in the showroom but me. Anyways, the guy ended up buying SL600 from me and paid CASH! Moral of the story: people with money don't always throw it in your face.

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That's awesome, MB has not been so nice to me the few times I've gone in. Which Benz did you work at ? The big one downtown ?